Silver White Winters That Melt Into Spring.

I know it's very childish of me, but I'm scared of thunder storms. Ever since I was a little tyke. I think it was year 2, when we learned about lightening at school, that my fear really started. I've never been a fan of sudden loud noises (fireworks are not my favourite thing in the world. Nor are snare players in marching bands), but once I learned about the damage that lightening can cause, that was it for me. I'm getting better though! I used to just lay there in bed blocking my ears until it stopped, which is not a particularly practical thing to do when you live in Queensland with all the storms and stuff. I didn't get much sleep in the summertime.

This house is very tall and lightning keeps striking really close and I'm freaking out a little right now! Where is Julie Andrews when you need her..




In other news; my feet are dead, my eyes are barley staying open and my shoulders hurt like a bitch. Yes, that's right, I'm a wee bit tired. But you know what? It was utterly and completely worth it. I had the most fantastic weekend!! It included fresh cookies, a wonderfully dozy picnic (with a freakishly cloudless sky and a freakishly lovely picnic partner), park exploration, ducks (and surprise turtles!), being re-untied with goon punch (and the CHAC uniform), chats at Charlie's with nothing but the finest collection of beings AND Bohemian Rhapsody.

This is following the AMAZING performance from none other than Tame Impala that I witnessed last weekend, in the company of two very cool cats. I can not find a picture to successfully illustrate my recent weekend adventures, so instead I'm going to include a song by one of the support acts of Tame Impala, The John Steel Singers. Very impressive live performance on their behalf!! Especially the keys/trumpet/back up singer guy, who looked like he was having the time of his life. That's really what you want to see in live music. Apologies for terrible video quality.



For now, however, I best return to the world of craziness and seriousness I was lucky enough to escape for 48 hours-ish. Not long now until two and a half moths of escapism :)

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You can pull linked sausages out of me if you want.

So I was moping around the house, doing absolutely nothing when there are a million things to be done, and I decided to watch Gilmore Girls, as it is always the medicine to my moping. Of course, every time I use it for this medicine purpose, it turns out to be a depressing episode, having the opposite effect from the usual Gilmore dose.



But in the end, it pulled through. After a long bout of hopelessness, in fact appearing to worsen my moping, the last line made me happy. For possibly less than five seconds at the very very end, it managed to turn my mood around completely, with the simple line of, "You can pull linked sausages out of me if you want".





I was actually Rory in my dream the other night. It was so bizarre, I'm always myself in my dreams! Occasionally I may be wearing a costume or acting like somebody else, but I was utterly and completely Rory Gilmore. I looked like her, talked like her, people called me 'Rory'. I was roaming the streets in this strange emotionless state, and then I came across a group of people I knew, having a street party of some kind. So, of course, I joined them, still in the emotionless state, and started babbling on about how I realised I was in love with Logan (Rory's boyfriend in the show, as pictured above). Then I laid on a trampoline and stared at the stars, expressionless, for ages before waking up and returning to the real world where I am myself. My subconcious takes me on some strange adventures in the night.

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Hungry Kids.

These guys are the Hungry Kids of Hungry, and they're a pretty alright foursome of talent from Brisbane.

In the following clip of awesomeness, I'm sure you'll notice that the song is great. I'm also sure you'll notice that the rock percussion is great, that they look like they're having SO much fun, and that the guy with his head covered is kind of irritating. However, what I really really want you to notice, is the impeccable choice of guitar. Yep, that's right, it's exactly the same as mine. Definitely an underrated tool, the mini acoustic.



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Assignment Writing Entertainment.

I want to sleep for days, do something reckless, sing outdoors, eat chocolate cake, drink a bucket full of tea, watch a movie I've never seen before and work on my creative projects all at once. But alas, I must continue to write this assignment.

While I write assignments and study, I like to listen to music that I wouldn't usually listen to whilst doing things I usually do when listening to music (such as train catching, walking and doing the dishes). Miles Davis, Beethoven, Debussy and Chet Baker are my favourites for study related occasions. I'm currently going through a bit of a jazz phase, so I've been listening to Miles on the train as well :)



Anyway, on my assignment writing youtube travels, I came across this magnificent Chet Baker rendition of "My Funny Valentine". I have a lovely recording of him singing it, but this is completely different and completely wonderful. From the instability of his vocals, I'm going to assume it's from his later years. Just wow. Enjoy!



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p.s. Thank you to everyone who has ever taken the time to read/browse my blog! I now, somehow, have over 1000 views :) (over half of which occurred between September and now!!). It's really nice to know that my points of view and ramblings are read, and maybe even considered :) so thanks, love and peace to you.

Danger Tunes.

"I think that music has to have danger, you have to be right on the precipice to really be interested, not gliding along playing something you know. If you never get on the brink you're never going to learn what excitement you can rise to. You can only rise to great heights by danger and no great man has ever been safe."

I read this just now in the book "Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond" while researching for an assignment, and it was exactly what I needed to read. Only slightly relevant to the assignment, but 100% relevant to my state of mind. Thanks Michael Nyman!

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Remind Me.

Don't you just love it when people are just lovely? It makes things like walking home barefoot in the wind and dark and rain with a trumpet case that little bit less horrible. Being complemented by a stranger (not a creepy stranger, a nice one!), coming home to find a hand written letter in the mail, and a message from a ye old friend concerned for my health. It really restores my faith in humanity :)

This is one of my favourite Lisa Mitchell songs. It slipped under my radar for a little bit, but it was just perfect when I heard it today!



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How To, With Cinta.

How to eat the perfect chocolate combination:
1. Purchase both a block of dark chocolate and hazelnut dairy milk.
2. Break off a strip of each block.
3. Bite half of a square of the dark chocolate, do not chew.
4. Bite half of a square of the hazelnut dairy milk, chew together.
5. Smile, and continue process until feelings of sickness begin.

How to study for Music Theory exam:
1. Stare at notes
(to be continued)



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